A 1990s bottling of 1980s distilled Japanese blended whisky from Mars Distillery owned by Hombo Shuzo. This is not often seen on shelves for sale these days and rarely ever made it out of Japan for that matter.
Today Mars rank as 4th most popular brand of whisky in Japan with projected rises further due to the magnitude of the silent beast for the western world that has been Mars Tsunuki and Mars Komagatake. Much of their whisky is aged on Yakushima Island at the southern most point of Japan which produces Hyper Aged whisky. A 5 Year Old Mars is like drinking a 20 Year Old whisky from other brands.
A large selection of Mars Single Casks and annual releases is available at Whisky Situation with some open at the bar in Aberdeen to be able to try.
About Mars
Japan's highest distillery, Shinshu was built by the whisky division of the Hombo Shuzo Co, known as Mars, in 1985. It is located in Miyada, a village in the Nagano Prefecture, and operated for seven years before being mothballed in 1992. Despite being relatively succesful in their native market, Mars had not had the success of its competitors Nikka and Suntory on the global stage, and the struggling Japanese whisky market at the time forced the company's hand. In the subsequent years however, things began to improve, and Shinshu distillery was eventually re-opened in 2011. Mars bottles its single malt under the Komagatake brand, and have also opened a sister distillery called Tsunuki to provide for its popular blends.
This whisky has been aged in the stone warehouse of Mars Tsunuki distillery in Kagoshima. It is a vatting of ex-Bourbon cask aged spirit.
In 1985, Hombo Breweries opened the Mars Shinshu distillery in Miyata village at the foot of the Komagatake Alps in Japan’s Nagano prefecture. Whisky production there takes place only during winter, with the rest of the year spent brewing beer and distilling other spirits. However, with the popularity of whisky enjoying a resurgence in Japan, “winter” now lasts for about six months at the distillery.
